I have enjoyed reading romances for over twenty five years. When I reached the love scenes (some of which were quite steamy), I had to wonder - What was it like for the author to write this? How did they feel? Didn't they feel a bit strange sharing this with the world?

I finally wrote my first romance and yes there are love scenes. I found that writing the love scenes were actually the easiest parts of the book to write. They just poured onto the screen. I went into the 'writing zone' and just wrote.

Later, when I went back to reread them, I thought, wow I wrote that.

When I read the scenes out loud to my husband, his response was, "Who did you copy those from?"

I took this as a compliment.

But, when it came time to share it with my critique group and a friend, who edited it for me, I was nervous. I felt like I was sharing a very intimate part of myself. Even though it was fiction, I wrote it. And, I will admit I was a bit embarrassed. I know - so what! It turned out fine and they were real troopers about it, but still.

I am a beginning writer and I still have much to learn. Dream Obsession was a great learning experience for me, including the writing of love scenes. Did you know that there were websites dedicated to 'how' to write love scenes, complete with terminology and very descriptive words? The research along is steamier than most books.

I will admit - I am quite proud of this short story.

My loves scenes, though pretty mild compared to others, do have a touch of STEAMY…

For almost thirty years, I have wanted to write stories. The desire started after reading the tenth, or maybe thirtieth, romance book. I procrastinated using life as an excuse - children, husband, jobs, the publishing industry.

Then I joined a writers group this year. I joined after speaking to them about Armchair ePublishing and how we help writers get their stories ready for self-publishing. I couldn't resist them. They beckoned me into their world and in I went. Attending the meetings, hanging out with them, reading their stories, all started to rub off and pushed the need to write back up to the surface. No longer buried, it screamed at me to try. Another factor pushing me to start - the ability to self-publish. The fear of rejection, of having to wait for years to find out if you would be published or not, was no longer a deterrent, nor an excuse.

I took a writing class from a local published author, Kathleen Kaska. In class, she had us do a writing exercise. The exercise - write a quirky character's name and something about that character. At first I was stumped. I just sat there like a dead log. Then a name popped into my head and off the pen went. I could no longer control it, words flowed from the ink to the paper. Before I knew it, a character was born. She had friends, family, a boyfriend and a career. What? Where did she come from? I was stunned by the whole experience. Kathleen encouraged me to continue writing about her. I started to, but writer's block hit. Where to go? What to do? HUH?

That's when we started our writing critique group. The encouragement, feedback and constant push forced me to stop procrastinating. Kathleen, our group leader, a retired teacher, has the knack and the skills, to keep us marching forward. The experience - a return to grade school. Memories I thought long faded, surfaced. When we started I dreaded the RED PENCIL. I would laugh when I would see pages filled with RED markings. What I found though, the red marks were actually one of the best parts of the experience. An 'educational' experience, teaching me to do better as the story progressed.

As my writing improved, as well as the story, I started to receive stars next to lines on the paper, then the word 'good' and 'excellent' started showing up on pages, the appearance of the dreaded RED PENCIL less frequent now. And just like in grade school, whenever the teacher gave you a gold star or wrote "GOOD" on your paper, the sense of pride bubbled up and made me want to achieve even more.

So, join a writing critique group, they are worth their weight in GOLD stars...

PS - I am still 'working' on my writing. It will always be a Work In Progress. Disclaimer: If you find any errors in this post (and you most likely will), they are all my own. The writing critique group had no say, or red pencil, in regards to this post. :-)